Falling Twice [Harmione]

You Have No Rights

"Hermione, I think she wants me to go upstairs with her." Harry's face was thin and tired, but there was excitement in his eyes. Maybe they had finally found what they needed to destroy the Horcrux.

Hermione eyed Bathilda suspiciously. She didn't like the idea of going deeper into the house with her. But there was no getting around the fact they needed Gryffindor's sword.

"Okay let's go." She agreed.

Bathilda shook her head, gesturing only to Harry.

"I think she wants only me to go with her."

Hermione hesitated before nodding reluctantly. She wrapped her arms around herself unease creeping in on her at the thought of separating from Harry even briefly. She watched as Harry went upstairs with the creepy woman, ignoring the part of herself that was saying it was a mistake. They both faded from her view up the darkened stairs, the soft thuds of their footsteps quieting until Hermione couldn't hear them at all.

Silence descended, and even the flames crackling in the fireplace seemed subdued. Hermione was straining to hear anything when a rapid thumping noise from upstairs made her jump.

"Harry?" Hermione called. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest that it felt like it would burst. She approached the stairway looking up into the darkness, unable to see anything. "Harry!"

Fear burst inside her like a bomb, propelling her into motion, and she ran up the stairs.

She shouldn't have let him go alone! Why had she let him go alone? She burst into the room with the door open and saw Harry. Nagini was wrapped around him, the snake's mouth enclosing his entire neck, and Harry's blank green eyes stared in her direction.

Hermione, grief-stricken, started screaming hysterically, "Harry!"

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2006 Present

Bang. Bang!

The dream blended with reality as Hermione's eyes shot open, taking in the darkened bedroom in confusion. Where was Harry?

Her heart beat so hard in her chest it hurt and she couldn't seem to suck in a breath, her throat tight. There was a forceful bang against the door and her mind supplied the image of Nagini's large body writhing against the door, trying to break it down so she could kill Hermione, too.

The door cracked as the frightening banging continued hammering against the wood. Wood cracked and pieces of the door fell to the floor. Had she left Harry somehow in her panic? The door shuddered, breaking, until it finally splintered into pieces, allowing the monster in. A dark figure rushed in as the remainder of the door slammed into the wall violently.

Hermione rolled off the side of the bed, trying not to pass out as she gasped for air. Her hands moved frantically around her, trying to find her wand as she crouched behind the bed for cover. Where was Nagini? Where was Harry's body? Her eyes burned as she tried to see through the darkness and a rough inhale cut off in a despairing sob when she realized she wasn't going to find her wand in time. She'd failed Harry.

She screamed as she felt hands touch her, fighting desperately. "Let me go! Let me go! Harry!"

The hands grabbed her tightly, crushing her against a hard chest, trapping her. "I'm here, you're okay. Hermione, it's me. It's Harry. I've got you."